Fruit-picker.



J. A. PINDELL.

FRUIT PIGKER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.28,1913.

Patented July 28, 1914.

I'IIE NORRIS PETERS (0, PHOTOYLITHOH WASHINGTON, D C

JOHN A. PINDELL, 0F COCKEYSVILLE, MARYLAND.

FRUIT-PICKER.

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. PINDELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cockey'sville, Maryland, have invented certain Improvementsin Fruit-Pickers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class offruit-pickers in which a fruit-detaching device is used in connectionwith a flexible chute which receives the fruit as detached, and conveysit to the operator who stands on the ground; and it consists in afurther development of the invention described and claimed in LettersPatent- No. 1,006,124 granted to me on the 17th day of October, in theyear 1911 for a fruit-picker, and to which reference should be made.

The object of the present invention is to simplify the construction, andincrease the efliciency of the device described in the said LettersPatent, as will hereinafter fully apear.

p In the description of the said invention .which follows, reference ismade to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof, and in whichFigure 1 is a view illustrating the opera tion of the fruit-picker; andFig. 2 an enlarged perspective view of the upper part of the device.Fig. 3 is a partly sectional side view, still further enlarged, of theupper part of the device; and Fig. 4 a perspective view of a portion ofFig. 3.

Referring now to the drawing, 1 is the pole or handle of the device,preferably of bamboo owing to its lightness, and which due to thedifference in height of the trees from which fruit is to be picked, thepole is made in separable sections connected by ferrules a. The top ofthe pole is fitted with a band 2 formed of a piece of sheet metal rolledinto volute form that is to say, with its ends lapped as shown in Fig 4so as to constitute an expansible device which is always closed. Thisconstruction admits of using poles varying considerably in diameter atthe upper end, with a standard sized band, which is a decided advantage.

Instead of using a plain circular hoop at the upper end of the pole,which in fruit gathering operation receives the fruit, together with ahand-operated vibratory detaching device to sever the fruit from itsstem and cause it to fall by gravity to a chute, as shown and describedin the said patent, I employ a. practically circular wire Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed March 28, 1913.

Patented July 28. 1914. Serial No. 757,289.

hoop 3 having say, three points I) which extend outwardly for a purposehereinafter described. The ends of the wire forming the hoop 3 arebrought together and passed downward through the clips 0 which areintegral with the band 2, and then extended and formed into the ring 5the function of which will hereinafter appear.

7 is a flexible chute formed of some soft textile fabric, the upper endof which is attached to the pointed hoop 3 at several places andgenerally by stitches. It will be understood that the wire ring 5 servesas a guard for the upper portion of the flexible chute and prevents thesame being collapsed should it strike a branch of a tree; and as itprojects laterally from the vertical portion of the wires immediatelybeneath the clips 0 of the extensible band 2, vertical movement of theband independently of the pole 1 is prevented without the employment ofany additional means, thereby simplifying and cheapening the device. Thechute is in sections attached together by buttons, or better by what areusually termed glove fasteners, in practically the same manner as thatshown in the said patent; and it extends downward through the ring 5.The chute is connected to the pole 1 at several points by flexible ringsor loops (Z which being considerably larger in diameter than the pole,admit of a freedom of motion of the chute independently of the polewhich would not be the case should the connections be rigid. The lowestsection of the chute is adapted for attachment to a bag 10, hown only inFig. 1, preferably of canton flannel with the soft face inside, intowhich the fruit ultimately falls. The bag can be connected to any one ofthe sections of the chute which happens to be the lowest one.

The operation of gathering fruit by means of the present inventionconsists in first passing the hoop upward and over the fruit so that thesame will be entirely within the chute then drawing the device overlaterally until the fruit is beneath one of the points of the hoop, andthen drawing the device I claim as my invention with a flexible chuteattached at its upper 0 In a fruit picker, a, pole having at its upendto the said hoop and extendin downper end an expansible metal collar ofvolute' ward through the ring, substantially as form provided With clipswdlliich ehxtendhlatspecified.

5 erall there rom, com ine Wit at 00p form ed of wire With outwardlyextending JOHN PINDELL' points, the ends of which wire are broughtWitnesses: together and passed through the clips and JULIA B. ROBINSON,then extended to produce a ring, combined M. T. HOWARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

